Scuffles as British police end all-night Tamil demo

LONDON, April 7, 2009 (AFP) – British police moved in Tuesday to end an overnight protest by Tamils over alleged rights abuses in Sri Lanka, triggering brief scuffles, an AFP reporter said. Four lifeboats were scrambled after some of the protestors reportedly threatened to throw themselves into the nearby River Thames. One person did enter […]

Hedging Claim

April 04, 2009 (LBO) – Deutsche Bank has filed arbitration proceedings against the government of Sri Lanka over non-payment in oil derivatives deals with state refiner Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).Citibank has already gone into arbitration against the CPC. CPC did the derivatives deals to protect itself when oil prices were surging and the contracts were […]

Lubricant Trends

April 01, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Chevron unit said net profit for the 2008 financial year fell 12 percent to 948 million rupees from a year ago with high fuel price and economic slowdown reducing sales amid increasing competition.Revenue for the financial year ending December 31, 2008 rose three percent to 8.9 billion rupees, […]

Extended

Mar 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Chevron unit said the island’s government has extended the lease on a land where its blending plant was located for a further five years, ending months of uncertainty. The firm was originally the lubricants division of state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) which was privatized. Chevron Lubricants Lanka Ltd […]

UN urged to act over jailed Sri Lankan reporters

March 18, 2009 (AFP) – A media rights group on Wednesday urged the United Nations to intervene on behalf of two Sri Lankan journalists being held on charges related to the war against the separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said J.S. Tissainayagam has been held under an anti-terrorism law for […]

Media rights group presses Sri Lanka

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2009 (AFP) – A rights group on Friday urged Sri Lanka to thoroughly investigate recent attacks against the media, saying it was disappointed with the government’s stance.Board members of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) met in Washington on Thursday with the Sri Lankan ambassador, Jaliya Wickramasuriya, to lodge their […]

” govts: Canada

OTTAWA, March 5, 2009 (AFP) – The 37-year conflict raging in Sri Lanka was borne out of “repressive” governments in Colombo, Canadian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said Thursday.“I am sure all Canadians share the government’s revulsion at the continuing humanitarian catastrophe in Sri Lanka, a civil conflict born of a succession of repressive […]

Human rights on decline in Sri Lanka: US

WASHINGTON, February 25, 2009 (AFP) – Human rights are on the decline in Sri Lanka with the government and Tamil Tiger rebels both committing violations as the three-decade war intensifies, the US State Department said Wednesday. In an annual global report, the State Department also said that media freedom was deteriorating on the island with […]

Sri Lankan Tamil editor arrested: police

February 26, 2009 (AFP) – A Tamil newspaper editor was arrested in Sri Lanka’s capital Thursday, police said, after colleagues and family members complained that he had been abducted while attending a funeral.Police spokesman Senior Superintendent Ranjith Gunasekara said N. Vidyatharan was taken in for questioning by the police crime division in connection with activities […]

Top UN official to visit restive Sri Lanka

UNITED NATIONS, February 18, 2009 (AFP) – UN humanitarian chief John Holmes is to pay a three-day visit to strife-torn Sri Lanka later this week to review the humanitarian situation, the world body said Wednesday. During his previous visit to Sri Lanka in August 2007, Holmes described the island as one of the world’s most […]

UN envoy in Sri Lanka expresses fears for civilians

February 19, 2009 (AFP) – The United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes held talks with leaders in Sri Lanka on Thursday and said he was gravely concerned for thousands of civilians trapped in the island’s war zone. Holmes met Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama after the Tamil Tiger rebels suffered a series of defeats that have […]

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